A Safer Test for Down Syndrome

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• People with Down syndrome are human beings... antibody on 10/07/2008 at 9:31 AM

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  As a father of a wonderful 9 year old son who happens to have Down syndrome, I was appalled by the statement "A first-trimester test for Down syndrome would be preferable, so that parents have more time to decide if they wish to terminate the pregnancy..."  Why is there the automatic assumption that parents would want to destroy their child just because he or she has a disability?  Are we that uncivilized? Or are we just ignorant of the wonderful qualities exhibited by people with this disability? Rather than spending all this money and brain power on how to detect birth defects earlier, why don't we instead focus on discovering what causes birth defects in the first place.  Those resources could also be used to develop better therapies and treatments for those among us who have disabilities. This weekend in every major metro area around the US friends and families are conducting various "Buddy Walks" to raise awareness of what Down syndrome really is. I challenge everyone on this forum to go spend a couple of hours educating yourself on all of the positive aspects of this disability. (Google: DS Buddy Walk and your area) Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • Re: People with Down syndrome are human beings... phoenix on 10/07/2008 at 11:37 AM

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    It would seem to be a more ethical approach than that of infanticide, where deformed or sickly newborns were simply left somewhere to die, which was a fairly common practice in some parts of Africa and other remote sections of the world right up until the middle of the 20th century. And many of those individuals deemed unworthy by the standards of Hitlers third reich, standards which were developed largely from the observations of Sir Francis Galton, the so called father of Eugenics, were sterilized so that they would not be able to reproduce. The option of terminating such a pregnancy, which you feel is unworthy of society even to contemplate, just might save a hopelessly deformed child from being brought into a world that would treat it as just another Elephant Man sideshow.  Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • 	Re: People with Down syndrome are human beings... kaphar on 10/15/2008 at 10:18 PM
      Posts: 1 Avg Rating:	Surely you have not heard of Joni Eareckson Tada. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • Re: People with Down syndrome are human beings... Biologist on 10/08/2008 at 4:08 AM

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    antibody, the key phrase here is "parents have more time to decide if they wish to terminate the pregnancy". Emphasis is on the parents making this decision for themselves. There is absolutely no assumption that the parents would want to destroy their child. They have the choice of whether to take this test or not. When they receive the result, they then have the choice of what to do with that result. I work in this area, and routinely sign out results which parents use to make these choices, but when my wife was pregnant, we decided we would not terminate the pregnancy if Down syndrome was picked up on screening. It's all about choices. Rate this comment: (Reply)